Tag Archives: 1890s to 1910s. Antique Quilts

One Patch Quilts

10 Monday Apr 2017

Posted by in antique fabric, antique quilts, hand piecing, hand quilting, old fabrics, old quilt tops, Old Quilts, Quilt Collections, Quilt Restoration, Quilt Stories, Scrap quilts, stitching

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Diamond Quilt

One patch quilts have been a mainstay of quilters since people picked up needles, thread and scraps of fabric.

Squares, triangles and diamonds or more complex shapes such as hexagons and clamshells have been used time and time again to create sophisticated designs.

One patch quilts can follow a formal layout of scraps and colours or can be randomly pieced out of the scrap basket.
Either way they make wonderful quilts.

Some of the one patch quilts in my collection include squares, triangles, tumblers, hexagons and apple core shapes.

Diamonds circa 1960s.

I purchased this quilt top at an antique market and hand quilted it in the Baptist Fan design. The maker had some great fabrics in her scrap basket including one with the American State flags and the year the states joined the United States of America. The last two to join were Alaska in 1958 and Hawaii in 1959. So we can presume this fabric was purchased in 1959 or later.

The quilter used great skill in her fabric placement. Solid colours are used for the diamonds in one direction and patterned fabrics in the other direction.

Detail of quilt and vintage fabrics used for the backing.

Old Fashioned Spools

Work in Progress

This is a quilt that I am presently hand piecing. I prefer the name Old Fashioned Spools but it is more commonly called Apple Core or Double-Bitted Axe. I am alternating light and dark fabrics throughout.

Vintage Tumbler

This quilt top contains shirtings, mourning prints, florals, plains, stripes and checks. Two cheddar yellow tumblers and the use of red and white spotted fabrics brighten up the sombre tone of the quilt. The top is hand pieced.

Tumbler Quilt top circa 1900s.

1910’s Triangles

The maker of this quilt planned her use of fabrics carefully making sure she had enough of each one to stitch a row of triangles across the quilt. The fabrics used are typical of the 1910’s but the indigos appear to be from earlier. The indigos are patterned with white and cheddar designs.

Simple shapes make wonderful quilts

I hope you enjoy seeing some of my one patch quilts and may be inspired to use your scraps to carry on this lovely quilting tradition. Happy Patching and thank you for visiting, Janette – The Plain Needlewoman

My Year of Repairing

23 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by in antique fabric, antique quilts, English Quilts, hand piecing, hand quilting, Mending, North Country quilts, old fabrics, Old Quilts, Quilt Collections, Quilt Restoration, Quilt Stories, quilting projects, Red and White quilts, Repairing old quilts, Scrap quilts, stitching, Stripe Quilts, Strippy Quilts, Turkey Red, Uncategorized, vintage quilts

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img_5160Patchwork Strippy Quilt

 

First on my New Year’s Resolution List for 2017 is to carry our repairs and restoration on quilts in my collection that need a little TLC.  Armed with the excellent book ‘Quilt Restoration – A Practical guide’ by Camille Dalphond Cognac, I feel confident in tackling the intricate work needed to repair the quilts and to do so in such a way as to preserve their future.

img_4850Quilt Restoration – A Practical Guide by Camille Dalphond Cagnac

 

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This beautiful English Patchwork Strippy Quilt is a stunning quilt displaying a great assortment of scraps tied together with a Turkey Red Twill. The red has held up well but some of the patterned fabrics have worn.  Fortunately the white fabric is in excellent condition.

I purchased the quilt from the Antique Textile Company and Christopher Wilson-Tate provided me with information on the quilts provenance.  The quilt is from a family in Alnwick, Northumberland, circa 1880’s and is a great example of North Country English Quilting.

 

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Back of Quilt showing the cable quilting design.

To undertake the repair of the quilt I have cut squares of reproduction and vintage fabrics.  Placing right sides of fabric to butter muslin, I stitch around the entire patch.

I make a small cut into the butter muslin, trim the seams and turn right sides out.  I ease out the corners using a stiletto and press the patches.  They are now ready to be carefully appliquéd onto the worn square.img_4873

Butter muslin

 

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Squares cut and ready to sew.

 

img_4876Turned patches

 

img_4879Pinned and ready to appliqué

 

img_4880Stitched in place.

The final step will be to replicate the quilting design over the patches.

To quote Camille Dalphond Cognac “Scrap quilts are a joy to restore because the fabrics are chosen to blend into the totality of as many as a hundred or more colours.” With many hours of joyous stitching ahead, I hope to complete this task so this beautiful quilt will be preserved for many years to come.

Hope your stitching brings you much Joy.

 

It’s Never Too Late To Mend.

16 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in antique fabric, Double Pinks, Mending, Repairing old quilts

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The Letter H Quilt

The Letter H Quilt

This gorgeous late 1800’s quilt arrived from America in good condition bar a 2 inch tear in one of the H blocks. As the general condition of the fabrics is excellent I can only presume that the quilt caught on a sharp object that caused the tear.

I sorted through my reproduction fabrics for a match to repair this block but could not find a suitable tone of red and black. I thought about using black tulle but didn’t have any on hand. I then remembered that I had some old black lace in my lace collection. I stitched the damage section of the quilt back onto the batting and covered the exposed area with the lace. This was an easy solution and the tear is practically invisible. I am happy with the result.

Repaired block

Repaired block

About this quilt

The Letter H quilt dates to about the late 1890s to 1910. The Letter H blocks were probably made from the quilter’s scrap basket. The cream background fabric in the blocks is consistent throughout, as is the gorgeous double pink used for the alternate blocks.

Detail of blocks

Detail of blocks

The quilt has another double pink used for the side borders. The quilt measures 230 cms. (90 inches) by 178 cms. (70 inches) and the blocks are 24 cms. (approx 9inches) sq.

The backing is a very pretty shirting with a pink on white design. The maker obviously ran short of fabric and joined in a similar shirting to create enough fabric for her backing.

Joined Backing.

Joined Backing.

More of the pretty backing.

More of the pretty backing.

The quilting is the Baptist Fan design and is executed in a loose, relaxed style. The quilter bound her quilt by bringing the backing fabric to the front of the quilt. The batting is a hand carded cotton. When I washed the quilt the little black cotton seeds were clearly visible when the quilt was wet.

This quilt is one of my favourites. I love the design, the colours and the quilt’s tactile quality.

Unusual fabric design

Unusual fabric design

So it really is never too late to mend. ” Mend in time; patch to a purpose; reinforce for strength and take care with all.” (quote from Mary Brooks Picken).
Hope you enjoy the quilt and it’s story, Happy Mending – Janette – The Plain Needlewoman.